PRODUCTION IN MANAGED AND UNMANAGED FORESTS 3 



the expenditure justified is in proportion to the return to be 

 realized. 



The long interval before the crop can be harvested is an 

 undoubted drawback, but in spite of this, expenditures in 

 silvicultural and agricultural practice to increase productivity 

 have a common economic basis. Indeed, when once ade- 

 quately organized, forest properties producing timber crops 

 may frequently pay as well as or better than lands producing 

 agricultural crops. 



The unmanaged or mismanaged forests, like poorly cared 

 for farm lands, do not produce forest products of the kind, in 

 the amount, or of the value which might be grown. Silvi- 

 culture, by properly tending the wild forest and establishing 

 new forests on open areas, increases productivity. 



Production in Managed and Unmanaged Forests. — The 

 unmanaged or mismanaged forest shows lower production 

 than it should, due to one or more of the following 

 defects. 



(a) Species of quality inferior to those which might be 

 growing occupy part or all of the area. Such species are the 

 weeds of the silviculturist. They flourish at the expense of 

 better varieties. Inferior species are particularly apt to 

 appear after disturbance in the forest cover, due to such 

 agencies as lumbering and fires. Silviculture must eliminate 

 and keep inferior species from reappearing. " Inferior," as 

 here used, is a relative term, since a species may be, under 

 one set of circumstances, the best tree to grow and elsewhere 

 a forest weed. 



(b) The forest may be too sparsely or too densely stocked 

 with trees for the best results. Either of these two extremes 

 is detrimental, both having the final effect of reducing the 

 value of the crop produced. Too sparse stocking results in 

 part of the area being unproductive during a portion, at least, 



